Tsar Kandavl; AKA Le Roi Candaule (King Cadaules) is a Grand ballet in 4 Acts-6 Scenes, with choreography by Marius Petipa

Marius Petipa

Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa was a French ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. Petipa is considered to be the most influential ballet master and choreographer of ballet that has ever lived....

, and music by Cesare Pugni

Cesare Pugni

Cesare Pugni was an Italian composer of ballet music, a pianist and a violinist. In his early career he composed operas, symphonies, and various other forms of orchestral music. Pugni is most noted for the ballets he composed while serving as Composer of the Ballet Music to Her Majesty's Theatre...

. Libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, based on the history of King Candaules

Candaules

Candaules , also known as Myrsilos was a king of the ancient Kingdom of Lydia from 735 BC to 718 BC. He succeeded Meles and was followed by Gyges...

 the Ruler of Lydia, as described by Herodotus

Herodotus

Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...

 in his Histories

Histories (Herodotus)

The Histories of Herodotus is considered one of the seminal works of history in Western literature. Written from the 450s to the 420s BC in the Ionic dialect of classical Greek, The Histories serves as a record of the ancient traditions, politics, geography, and clashes of various cultures that...

. From this work is derived the famous Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux (AKA the Diana and Acteon Pas de Deux).

First presented by the Imperial Ballet

Mariinsky Ballet

The Mariinsky Ballet is a classical ballet company based at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's leading ballet companies...

 on October 17/29 (Julian

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...

/Gregorian calendar

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...

 dates), 1868 at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia. Principal Dancers - Henriette D'or (as Queen Nisia), Felix Kschessinsky as (King Candaules/Tsar Candavl), Lev Ivanov

Lev Ivanov

Lev Ivanovich Ivanov was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer and later, Second Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet....

 (as Gyges), and Klavdia Kantsyreva (as Claytia)

Revivals/Restagings

• Revival by Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet
  Mariinsky Ballet
  The Mariinsky Ballet is a classical ballet company based at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's leading ballet companies...
  
   under the title Tsar Candavl with additional music by Riccardo Drigo
  Riccardo Drigo
  Riccardo Eugenio Drigo , a.k.a. Richard Drigo was an Italian composer of ballet music and Italian Opera, a theatrical conductor, and a pianist....
  
  . First presented on November 24/December 6, 1891 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia. Principal Dancers - Carlotta Brianza (as Queen Nisia), Pavel Gerdt
  Pavel Gerdt
  Pavel Andreyevich Gerdt, also known as Paul Gerdt , was the Premier Danseur Noble of the Imperial Ballet, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, and the Mariinsky Theatre for 56 years, making his debut in 1860, and retiring in 1916...
  
   (as King Candaules/Tsar Kandavl), Alexander Gorsky (as Gyges), and Varvara Rykhliahova (as Claytia)

• Revival by Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet, with additional music and adaptations to Pugni's score by Riccardo Drigo. First presented at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre on April 9–21, 1903. Principal Dancers - Julia Sedova (as Queen Nisia), Pavel Gerdt (as King Candaules/Tsar Kandavl), Gyorgii Kiaksht (as Gyges), Nadezhda Petipa (as Claytia), and Evdokia Vasilieva (as Pythia).

The Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux

Another of the celebrated passages of Le Roi Canadule was the divertissement known as the Pas de Diane, or Les Amours de Diane, from the Act IV-Scene 2 Grand divertissement.

It is a common misconception that the famous Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux—which was fashioned from this Pas de Diane—was originally created for Petipa's 1886 revival of Jules Perrot

Jules Perrot

Jules-Joseph Perrot was a dancer and choreographer who later became Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia...

's La Esmeralda. In modern times the Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux has become a popular piece in the repertory of ballet companies as well as on the ballet competition circuit, and through this the misconception of its origins has spread from source to source.

For his revival of Le Roi Candaule in 1903, Petipa completely revised much of his choreography for many of the famous pas from the ballet. Among the pieces Petipa revised was the Pas de Diane. Not only did Petipa create new choreography for the piece, he also called upon the composer Riccardo Drigo

Riccardo Drigo

Riccardo Eugenio Drigo , a.k.a. Richard Drigo was an Italian composer of ballet music and Italian Opera, a theatrical conductor, and a pianist....

 to revise Cesare Pugni's original music.

In Petipa's version, the Pas de Diane was a Pas de caractère based on characters taken from Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

. The original pas consisted of the characters Diana

Diana (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt and moon and birthing, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy...

 (or Artemis

Artemis

Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...

) the virgin goddess of the hunt, Endymion

Endymion (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Endymion , was variously a handsome Aeolian shepherd or hunter or a king who ruled and was said to reside at Olympia in Elis, but he was also said to reside and was venerated on Mount Latmus in Caria, on the west coast of Asia Minor....

 the mythological hunter, a Satyr

Satyr

In Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus — "satyresses" were a late invention of poets — that roamed the woods and mountains. In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing....

, and eight nymphs. Petipa fashioned the Pas de Diane as a classical Pas de Trois - consisting of a short Entrée, a Grand Adagio for the three soloists and the eight nymphs (female members of the corps de ballet), a dance for the eight nymphs and the Satyr, variations for Diane and Endymion, and a Grand Coda.

In 1931 the great Russian pedagogue Agrippina Vaganova

Agrippina Vaganova

Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova was an outstanding Russian ballet teacher who developed the Vaganova method - the technique which derived from the teaching methods of the old Imperial Ballet School under the Premier Maître de Ballet Marius Petipa throughout the mid to late 19th century, though...

 resurrected Petipa's 1903 version of the Pas de Diane, which she interpolated into her 1932 revival of Petipa's version of La Esmeralda

La Esmeralda (ballet)

La Esmeralda is a ballet in 3 acts, 5 scenes, inspired by Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo, originally choreographed by Jules Perrot; with music by Cesare Pugni and design by William Grieve , D. Sloman , Mme...

for the Kirov Ballet (the former Imperial Ballet). For reasons not fully understood, in Vaganova's version the character of Endymion was changed to Actéon

Actaeon

Actaeon , in Greek mythology, son of the priestly herdsman Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia, was a famous Theban hero. Like Achilles in a later generation, he was trained by the centaur Chiron....

 - a change that is rather incorrect with regards to the actual myth and Petipa's original scheme (in the myth Actéon looks upon Diane's virgin body while she is bathing with her nymphs. As punishment for this, Diane takes away his powers of speech. She punishes him further by adding the condition that should he attempt to speak, he shall be turned into a deer. Upon hearing the calls of his own hunting party, he does attempt speech, and is thus transformed. His dogs then attack and kill him).

Vaganova re-fashioned Petipa's choreography as a Pas de Deux, and increased the number of nymphs from eight to twelve. The dancers Galina Ulanova

Galina Ulanova

Galina Sergeyevna Ulánova is frequently cited as being one of the greatest 20th Century ballerinas. Her flat in Moscow is designated a national museum, and there are monuments to her in Saint Petersburg and Stockholm....

 and Vakhtang Chabukiani

Vakhtang Chabukiani

Vakhtang Chabukiani was a Georgian ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher highly regarded in his native country as well as abroad. He is considered to be one of the most influential male ballet dancers in history, and is noted for creating the majority of the choreography of the male variations...

were the first to perform Vaganova's new version of the piece, which was retitled as the Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux. Today Vaganova's Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux is a major repertory staple with ballet companies all over the world (outside of Russia the piece is most often performed simply as a Pas de Deux, without the corps de ballet), and is the only surviving piece from the ballet Tsar Kandavl/Le Roi Candaule in performance.

Structure

• La Peltata
• Grand pas de la tortue
• Grand pas lydien
• La Naissance du papillon (this number was transformed by Riccardo Drigo into the Grand pas des fleurs in 1891)
  • Valse
  • Pizzicato
• Pas de Vénus (transformed by Petipa into a Grand pas de deux in 1891)
• Scène de séduction
• Les Amours de Diane (a.k.a. Pas de Diane)
• Grand danse bachique